Three-piece swimwear hanger

ABSTRACT

A garment hanger for hanging multiple garments in a garment set includes a hook member, a body member extending downwardly from the hook member, and first and second support arms extending outwardly from the body member. Each of the first and second support arms also includes an elongated slot accessible at a surface of its respective arm. First and second resilient clips extend downwardly from the support arms, and a central member is positioned between the first and second resilient clips. First and second resilient jaws extend downwardly from the central member, and are positioned below the first and second resilient clips. An additional jaw member is positioned between said first and second resilient jaws and extends downwardly from the central member.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§ 119(e) fromU.S. Ser. No. 60/549,693, entitled “Three-Piece Swimwear hanger,” filedon Mar. 3, 2004. U.S. Ser. No. 60/549,693 was filed by at least oneinventor common to the present application, and is hereby incorporatedby reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a garment hanger in general, and moreparticularly to a hanger capable of accommodating and displayingmultiple garments at the same time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Swimwear is often presented and sold in a multi-piece garment set(including, for example, a swimwear bottom, top and skirt or cover).Prior art hangers for displaying such multiple-piece garment sets tendto be very long and/or high to accommodate the presentation of multiplepieces in the set. Thus, there exists the need for a swimwear hangerthat can display multiple pieces in less space than has been achieved byprior art hangers, without sacrificing garment control and/orpresentation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As taught herein, the present invention provides a garment hangersuitable for hanging multiple garments in a garment set together forstorage and display. The inventive hanger comprises a hook member, abody member extending downwardly from the hook member, and first andsecond support arms extending outwardly from the body member. Each ofthe first and second support arms also includes an elongated slotaccessible at a surface of its respective arm. First and secondresilient clips extend downwardly from the support arms, and a centralmember is positioned between the first and second resilient clips. Firstand second resilient jaws extend downwardly from the central member, andare positioned below the first and second resilient clips. An additionaljaw member is positioned between the first and second resilient jaws andextends downwardly from the central member.

As applied to a swimwear set, for example, the elongated slots may beused to hold the neck straps of a top for positioning the top, the firstand second resilient clips may be used to hold the waistband of a bottomfor positioning the bottom, and the first and second resilient jaws andjaw member may be used to hold and position a skirt. In this manner, thegarments in the garments set may be compactly displayed by overlappingthe garments in a manner that maintains relatively complete view of eachgarment from at least one of a front side and a back side of the hanger.

The features of the present invention taught herein enable the inventivehanger to have a reduced size and profile over prior art designs formultiple garment hangers. In other words, the horizontal distancebetween the ends of the hanger arms and the overall height of the hangerare reduced over prior art designs, without sacrificing garment controland/or presentation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

A more complete understanding of the invention may be obtained byreference to the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the three-piece swimwear hanger of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation thereof;

FIG. 4 is a left side elevation thereof;

FIG. 5 is a right side elevation thereof;

FIG. 6 is a top view thereof;

FIG. 7 is a bottom view thereof;

FIG. 8 is a front elevation view thereof shown with a swimwear piecebeing held therein;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation view thereof shown with an additionalswimwear piece being held therein;

FIG. 10 is a front elevation view thereof shown with yet an additionalswimwear piece being held therein; and

FIG. 11 is rear elevation view of the hanger of FIG. 10.

In the various figures, like reference numerals wherever possibledesignate like or similar elements of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is of the best mode or modes of theinvention presently contemplated. Such description is not intended to beunderstood in a limiting sense, but to be an example of the inventionpresented solely for illustration thereof, and by reference to which inconnection with the following description and the accompanying drawingsone skilled in the art may be advised of the advantages and constructionof the invention.

As shown for example in FIG. 2, the hanger 100 of the present inventiongenerally comprises a support hook 10 with two outwardly extendingsupport arms 20 a. 20 b on opposite sides of the hanger 100 as is knowin the art. A side sizer 11 extending between the support hook 10 and aweb 12 between the support hook 10 and a hanger body 21 may be providedas is also known in the art (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,887 to Bondet al.) to allow a customer to easily ascertain the size of the garmentbeing held on the hanger.

An elongated slot 22 a, 22 b is provided on each arm 20 a, 20 b foraccommodating a garment string, such as neck strap 210 of top 200 asshown, for example, in FIGS. 10 and 11. Such slot is usually provided onan upper surface of the support arm 20 a, 20 b as shown for example inFIG. 2.

A pair of resilient clips 30 a, 30 b extending downwardly from an areanear the slots 22 a, 22 b is provided to accommodate a garment piece,such as the waistband 310 of a swimwear bottom 300 as shown in FIGS.9-11. Each downwardly-extending clip 30 a, 30 b has a sinusoidal (wavy)edge profile 31 and a circular end profile 32 for efficient grippingwithout imparting sharp edge impressions in the garments. The clips 30a, 30 b move forward and rearward relative to the hanger 100 as shown inFIG. 2 for example (i.e., into and out of the paper).

A pair of outwardly-extending resilient jaws 40 a, 40 b extendingdownwardly and at an angle from the bottom of the hanger 100 is providedto accommodate a garment piece, such a swimwear skirt 400 as shown inFIGS. 9-11. Such jaws have outwardly-separating teeth 41 provided togrip the garment held therein.

A further single downwardly-extending jaw 50 is provided along a centralmember 51 of the hanger (at a position along central member 51, forexample, that is in alignment with the hanger hook 10, for example, asshown in FIG. 2) for gripping a garment such as the same garment beinggripped by the pair of outwardly-extending resilient jaws 40 a, 40 bdiscussed above (see, e.g., FIG. 9). Such single jaw 50 could work inconjunction with the above-described pair of outwardly-extending jaws401, 40 b to securely grip a single garment at multiple locations.

As shown in the FIGS. 9-11, the hanger 100 of the present inventionallows a customer to clearly view all garments without having to move orremove garments from the hanger. Prior art hangers capable of holdingmultiple garments have usually been designed so that some of the smallergarments are hidden by the larger garments. However, with the hanger ofthe present invention, even the smallest garment, such as the swimwearbottom 300 shown in FIG. 11, is in plain view. For example, the swimwearbottom 300 and skirt 400 are shown most clearly in FIG. 11, while thetop 200 is shown most clearly in FIG. 10. Thus, a consumer is onlyrequired to twirl or flip the hanger 100 around to view the front andback of the hanger 100 to view the entirety of the multi-piece garment200, 300, 400 held thereon, such that movement and/or removal ofgarments is not necessary to view all pieces.

Furthermore, the positioning and orientation of the clips 30 a, 30 b,slots 22 a, 22 b and jaws 40 a, 40 b, 50 as described above and shown inthe drawings enables easy access to a consumer. Removal of any garmentsimply requires a forceful tug from the clips/jaws 30 a, 30 b, 40 a, 40b, 50, or movement of a strap from the slots 22 a, 22 b. Accordingly,operating pinching clips (which may be difficult for some people tooperate), removing tape, dismantling the garment or the like is notnecessary for using the hanger of the invention.

In addition, the orientation and positioning of the clips 30 a, 30 b,slots 22 a, 22 b and jaws 40 a, 40 b, 50, and the manner in whichgarments are secured thereto, enables the hanger to have a reduced sizeand profile. In other words, the horizontal distance between the ends ofthe hanger arms and the overall height of the hanger can be reducedwithout sacrificing garment control and/or presentation. Prior arthangers for displaying multiple garments tend to be very long and/orhigh to accommodate the presentation of multiple pieces. Of course, suchorientation and positioning of the holding members such as the slots,clips and jaws, may be modified as required by the user and/ormanufacturer but without departing from the scope and requirements ofthe present invention.

While the present invention has been described at some length and withsome particularity with respect to the described embodiments, it is notintended that it should be limited to any such particulars orembodiments or any particular embodiment, but it is to be construed soas to provide the broadest possible interpretation and to effectivelyencompass the intended scope of the invention. Furthermore, theforegoing describes the invention in terms of embodiments foreseen bythe inventor for which an enabling description was available,notwithstanding that insubstantial modifications of the invention, notpresently foreseen, may nonetheless represent equivalents thereto.

1. garment hanger comprising: a hook member; a body member extendingdownwardly from said hook member; first and second support armsextending outwardly from said body member, each of said first and secondsupport arms including an elongated slot accessible at a surface of saidarm; first and second resilient clips respectively extending downwardlyfrom said first and second support arms; a central member, said centralmember being positioned between said first and second resilient clips;first and second resilient jaws extending downwardly from said centralmember below said first and second resilient clips; and a jaw memberpositioned between said first and second resilient jaws and extendingdownwardly from said central member.
 2. The garment hanger of claim 1,further comprising: a side sizer positioned between said hook member andsaid body.
 3. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said elongatedslots of said first and second support arms are each accessible at anupper surface of a respective one of said first and second support arms.4. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein each of said first and secondresilient clips includes an edge profile having at least one portionthat is wavy.
 5. The garment hanger of claim 4, wherein said edgeprofile has a rounded portion at a free end of each respective resilientclip.
 6. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein movable members in eachof said first and second resilient clips are movable forward andrearward relative to a plane defined by said first and second supportarms.
 7. The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said first and seconddownwardly extending resilient jaws extend outwardly from a verticalaxis of said garment hanger.
 8. The garment hanger of claim 1, whereinsaid first and second downwardly extending resilient jaws eachoutwardly-separating teeth for gripping a garment held therebetween. 9.The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said jaw member further includesoutwardly-separating teeth fro gripping a garment held therebetween. 10.The garment hanger of claim 1, wherein said garment hanger is configuredfor displaying a swimwear garment set including a top, a bottom and askirt.
 11. The garment hanger of claim 10, wherein said elongated slotsare configure to hold a neck strap of the top, said first and secondresilient clips are configured to hold a waistband of the bottom, andsaid first and second resilient jaws and said jaw member are configuredto hold the skirt.